Singapore city skyline on September 18, 2016.
Rustam Azmi | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Australian shares opened higher, with other Asian markets set to resume trading after the New Year’s Day holiday.
Australian S&P/ASX 200 Index Opening up 0.17%, Nikkei 225 Chicago futures were at 39,605 points, lower than the index’s last closing price of 39,894.54 points
Asian traders will also focus on Singapore’s fourth-quarter gross domestic product. According to a Reuters survey, GDP is expected to increase by 3.3% from a year ago.
Other available economic indicators include China’s Caixin Manufacturing PMI for December. Economists expected the manufacturing activity index to be 51.7, slightly higher than November’s 51.5, according to LSEG data.
Japanese markets were closed Thursday and Friday for bank holidays.
U.S. stock futures were little changed as traders braced for the new year after all three major indexes posted double-digit annual gains.
Futures linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average is flat, and S&P 500 Index Futures up 0.06%, Nasdaq 100 Futures up 0.17%.
The S&P 500’s annual gain exceeded 20% for the second consecutive year, rising 23.31% on top of a 24.2% gain in 2023.
—CNBC’s Christina Cheddar Berk contributed to this report.
